“Measure Of A Man”
Written by Sara(goneplatinum@live.com)
Two Thousand & Nine
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As soon as Nick entered the kitchen his nose was assaulted with the most vile smell he had ever encountered. Even Howie’s rank body odor during wardrobe changes while touring couldn’t compete. His mind immediately ventured back to that night… the fight… the booze…
“Ugh. What is that stink?” Brian asked, fanning the air as he wrinkled up his nose.
“Damn,” AJ muttered under his breath, pulling his shirt up to cover his mouth and nose. “Dude, you got a carpet cleaner or anything?”
Nick stared blankly for a moment before snapping back to present time. He made a face at the smell and shrugged, covering his mouth and nose with his hand. AJ let out a snort and shook his head. He should have known. Domesticity was not one of Nick’s strong points.
“Febreze it, shout it out, open the windows…” Brian moaned in disgust. He gripped the counter as a wave of nausea came over him. “For crying out loud, do something!”
“Dude, for real. If it bugs the snot out of you that bad, feel free to wait outside,” AJ replied as he walked over to the short flight of stairs that led to the downstairs. “Yo Nick, you have a utility room down there, right?”
“Uh yeah, I think so.” Nick said, nodding.
Truth be told, he didn’t have a damn clue. He knew next to nothing about how to run the house. A house cleaning service came in once a week to make a run-through and if anything ever went amiss, he either called for outside help or Jill did the job herself, preferring not to wait for someone else. Martha Stewart he surely wasn’t.
AJ ambled down the stairs while Brian ventured back outside. Nick could’ve sworn his face was green. Much to his own chagrin, he bypassed the whole carpet cleaning fiasco and made his way back toward the master bedroom. It was as if time had stood still. The bedcovers and sheets were all messed up and tossed down on the floor. He had been in a mad rush to get to rehearsal that morning, and making the bed was the furthest thing from his mind.
Nick reached over and picked up a pillow and tossed it haphazardly back up onto the bed before flopping down on the edge himself. His eyes scanned the room, taking in the constant reminders of his Jill. The small stack of chick lit books that she loved piled neatly on her nightstand, the glass bottles of perfume on the dresser, a pile of shoes by the closet doors that he swore grew daily. Constant reminders of her surrounded him. She was everywhere.
Then a glint of silver caught his eye. Raising an eyebrow, Nick walked over to the nightstand, and picked up Jill’s hot pink iPod. The same one she used to help rock out that day in the bathroom. A smile played at the corner of his lips as he absently monkeyed with the turn wheel on the front of the music player. The iPod suddenly came to life, springing bright colors of album covers in front of his eyes. He cruised through a few of the playlists, until one song in particular peaked his interest. He placed the ear buds securely in his ears, turned up the volume ever so slightly, and let the familiar melody flood through.
“Nick? Hey buddy, where’d you get to?” Brian’s southern twang echoed down the hallway. With his digestive system issues now in check, he was eager to talk this thing out with Nick, even if it was the last thing on his mind. “Nick?”
His voice trailed off as he stepped into the darkened master bedroom and saw Nick laying across the bed, iPod on his chest with his arms crossed beneath his head. His eyes were closed and a small smirk played across his face. For the first time since the whole tragedy had happened, Nick looked utterly content. Brian smiled inwardly, then inched backwards out of the room, closing the door carefully behind him. He could have the heart-to-heart with Nick later. The poor guy needed this moment of happiness.
Brian was walking toward the guest room that he had claimed for himself when he heard AJ holler, “Rok, could use your help out here…” his voice died off and Brian raised an eyebrow curiously.
“What the… AJ, what the heck are you doing?”
With the found carpet cleaner in front of him, whirring and sputtering as it moved over and across the stained areas, AJ grinned cheesily at Brian, acting as if he had won the SuperBowl or something. He pointed down at the carpet cleaner and gave Brian an enthusiastic thumbs up. However, the cleaner was proving to be more difficult than a sticky-fingered toddler in a candy store.
“I think I… almost… got it,” AJ said, voice strained as the cleaner took him for a ride across the room. He tried to hold the machine back from running away but it only resulted in the machine suddenly tipping over, expelling soapy and dirty water all over the carpet. He yelped and jumped away to avoid the spilling water. “Fuck me!” He kicked the machine once for good measure and sighed. “I dunno, dude, that thing is a pain in the fucking arse!”
“Didn’t you read the directions?” Brian asked, stifling a chuckle at AJ’s expense.
“What? Directions? What is this foreign word you speak?”
Brian merely rolled his eyes and let out a short snort of a laugh. “We need to get this cleaned up somehow, you realize this, right?”
AJ’s face fell instantly as he gazed around at the now rather large mess. “Can’t we like call someone to help?”
“It’s almost two in the morning! Who do you suggest we call, Bone?”
“Uh, I dunno. Isn’t there like some all-night carpet cleaning person business? This is LA, after all.”
“I’ll get some towels. See if we can’t at least mop some of the excess water up.” To this, AJ made a disgusting face and shuddered. Brian rolled his eyes again, only this time in exasperation. He was used to AJ’s smartass remarks, and his usual unwillingness to cooperate, but he really hoped he could possibly put his pride and attitude on the shelf for the time being while they were helping their brother out. “As soon as we get this taken care of it’s time to hit the sack because I’m exhausted.”
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The bright morning sun filtered in through the high, narrow windows of the dining room, flashing rays of bright sunshine on AJ and Brian. Both men sat in silence as they each purused the newspaper, the cast off sections strewn across the table amidst two steaming cups of really bad coffee.
"If you add enough sugar and cream, you can hardly tell," AJ piped up, pouring what had to have been his fourth cup in half an hour.
"If you add enough sugar and cream.…” Brian tapered off for a second in thought before singing. “'I'm on a sugar high, see you in three years!'."
AJ shook his head and took a sip of his coffee, his right eye twitching in the process, and Brian chuckled. "Well well well, seems we have a party pooper on our hands here, folks."
"Wha-what are you talking about? Better yet, who are you talking to? See, you're losing brain function by the minute."
AJ folded up his newspaper and jumped up from the table, nearly prancing around toward the kitchen, singing “Every party has a pooper, that’s why we invited you, party pooper. Party pooper!” He wiggled his behind as he danced around the table, stopping for a second to gyrate against a chair, mimicking giving someone a lap dance, which made Brian shake his head. AJ stopped after a moment when he got to the second verse and forgot the words. He shrugged, admitting defeat, before plopping back down in his chair to look over at Brian who was trying his damnedest to ignore him. “You need to lighten up, Bri. Come on, man.”
“Did the doctor somehow drop you on your head at birth?” Brian asked, voice flat.
AJ’s eyes narrowed into slits, for once he wasn’t wearing his traditional sunglasses, and he made an aggravated noise in the back of his throat. He abandoned his half-full cup and ambled into the living room. He’d had enough abuse for the morning.
The living room definitely had the Carter Touch in décor. Tamp Bay Buccaneers pennants along with a framed jersey lined one wall while the opposite wall held a giant oak entertainment center loaded with top of the line electronics that would make any grown man green with envy. AJ walked over and opened the glass enclosed cabinet, searching through the plethora of CDs that Nick had collected throughout the years, while Brian came in and sat down on the leather sectional situated in the middle of the room.
AJ chuckled to himself as he pulled out a CD and examined the front. He held it out for Brian to see and snickered. “Vanilla Ice… heh, oh yeah, I’m gonna have a field day with this.” He snickered again and slid the CD back in place as he continued picking through the collection.
"Bone, don't you think you're invading Nick and Jilly’s privacy just a tad?" Brian asked, slightly annoyed.
AJ stopped with a Journey CD in his hands and slowly turned around to face Brian, giving him a droll look that clearly stated ‘who’s crack have you been smoking?’.
Brian knew that look all too well. He cleared his throat and stood up.“I, uh, I’m gonna go grab some more coffee.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
EDITED. I did a little bit of revision over the weekend. New chapter soon! :)
